CEDAR RAPIDS – A California man who conspired with others to distribute methamphetamine in Iowa was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison.
Alan Sanchez, age 32, from San Jacinto, California, received the prison term after an October 23, 2023 guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
Evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings showed that Sanchez was involved in a large-scale drug trafficking organization that was responsible for mailing methamphetamine from California to Iowa through the United States Postal Service. Sanchez mailed packages that contained many pounds of methamphetamine on behalf of the drug trafficking organization.
Sanchez was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Sanchez was sentenced to 76 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Sanchez is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam J. Vander Stoep and was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force. The DEA Task Force consists of the DEA, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Marion Police Department, and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement.
